E. L. Konigsburg: R.I.P.

Sad news. I just saw that one of my favorite children's authors passed away today. E.L. Konigsburg was the author and illustrator of From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. She was 83. From the Mixed-Up Files features a 12 year old girl and her younger brother who runaway and move into New York's Metropolitan Museum. I've read that book so many times. The Metropolitan is one of my favorite museums, and every time I visit I find new rooms, paintings and sculpture. Quite the magical place! Who wouldn't want to run away there?

Konigsburg won the Newberry Medal in 1968 for From the Mixed Up Files. She won another Newberry Medal for The View from Saturday (29 years later). She was the author of many more children's and adult books, as well as the illustrator.